Constitution of the provisional government of the Confederate States of America

Congress of tlic Pro-visional Go^vernment.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

OF THE

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

8th February, 1861.
Read first, second and tliird times and engrossed ; and unani-
mously adopted. 1000 copies ordered to be printed.

IIowELL Conn,
J. J. HooPEE, Secretary. President of Congress.

MONTGOMERY, ALA.:

SnOKTEB & REID, PRINTERS, ADVERTISER OFFICE.

1801.

THE LIBRARIES

The University
of Georgia

J

n

I 16

George JVashington Flowers
Memorial Collection

DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ESTABLISHED BY THE

FAMILY OF

COLON F.I, FLOWERS

i

CONSTITUTION

FOR THE

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

OF THE

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent
States of South Carolina, v^leorgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Alniiglity
God, do hereb}', in behalf of these States, ordain and
establish this Constitution for the Provisional Government
of the same: to continue one j'ear from the inauguration
of the President, or until a permanent Constitution or
Confederation between the said States shall be put in
operation, whichsoever shall first occur.

ARTICLE L

SECTION 1.
All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested
in this Congress now assembled, until otherwise ordained.

SECTION 2.

When vacancies happen in the representation from
any State, the same shall be filled in such manner as the
proper authorities of the State shall direct.

SECTION 3.

1. The Congress shall be the judge of the elections,
returns and qualifications of its members; any nuinl)or

of Deputies from u niajority of the States, being present,
shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller
number may adjcjurn from day to clay, and may be
autliorized to compel the attendance of absent members;
upon all questions before the Congress, each State shall
be entitled to one vote, and shall be represented by any
one or more of its Deputies who may be present.

2. The Congress may determine the rules of its pro-
ceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior,
and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

3. The Congress shall keep a journal of its proceed-
ings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting
such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy;
and the yeas and nays of the members on any question,
shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, or at the
instance of any one State, be entered on the journal.

SECTION 4,
The members of Congress shall receive a compensation
for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out
of the treasurj^ of the Confederacy. They shall in all
cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be
privileged from arrest during their attendance at the
session of the Congress, and in going to and returning
from the same; and for any speech or debate, they shall
not be questioned in any other place.

SECTION 5.
1. Every bill which shall have passed the Congress,
shall, before it become a law, be presented to the Presi-
dent of the Confederacy; if he ajiprove, he shall sign it;
but if not, he shall return it with his objections, to the
Congress, who shall enter the objections at large on their
journal, and proceed to re-consider it. If, after such
re-consideration, two-thirds of the Congress shall agree
to pass the bill, it shall become a law. But in all such
cases, the vote shall be determined by yeas and nays; and ;
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill
shall be entered on the journal. If any bill shall not be

returned by tlie President within ten days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall liave been presented to him, the
sanie shall be a law, in like manner as it" he had signed
it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its
return, in which ease it shall not be a law. The President
may veto any appropriation or appropriations and ap-
prove any other appropriation or appropriations, in the
same bill.

2. Every order, resolution or vote, intended to have the
force and eliect of a law, shall be presented to the Presi-
dent, and before the same shall take effect, shall be
approved by him, or being disap^iroved by him, shall be
re-passed by two-thirds of the Congress, according to the
rules and limitations proscribed in the case of a bill.

3. Until the inauguration of the President, all bills,
orders, resolutions and votes adopted by the Congress
shall be of full force without approval by him.

SECTION ().

1. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts and excises, for the revenue neces-
sary to pa}' the debts and carry on the Government of
the Confederacy ; and all duties, imposts and excises shall
be uniform throughout the States of the Confederacy.
And this Congress shall also exercise executive powers,
until the President is inaugurated :

2. To borrow money on the credit of the Confederacy:

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and
among the several States, and with the Indian tribes :

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization,
and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies through-
out the Confederacy^ :

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof and of
foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and
measures:

0. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting
the securities and current coin of the Confederacy :
7. To establish post ofHces and post roads :

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8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts,
bj' securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors,
the exclusive right to their respective writings niid
discoveries :

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme
court :

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies commit-
ted on the high seas, and oiienses against the law of
nations :

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and
water :

12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation
of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two
years :

13. To provide and maintain a navy:

14. To make rules for the government and regulation
of the land and naval forces:

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute
the laws of the Confederacy, suppress insurrections, and
repel invasions :

16. To provide for organizing, armirg, and disciplining
the militia, and for governing such part of them as may
be employed in the service of the Confederacy, reserving
to the States respectively the appointment of the officers,
and the authority of training the militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress: and

17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers
and all other powers expressly delegated by this Consti-
tution to this Provisional Government.

SECTION 7.

1. The importation of African negroes from any for-
eign country other than the slave-holding States of the
United States, is hereby forbidden ; and Congress is re-
quired to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the
same.

2. The Congress shall also have power to prohibit the
introduction of slaves from any State not a member of
this Confederacy.

3. The privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall
not be suspended unless, when in cases of rebellion or
invasion, the public safety may require it.

4. No Bill of Attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be
passed.

5. ISTo preference shall be given, by any regulation of
commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those
of another: nor shall vessels bound to or from one State
be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties, in another.

G. ^o money shall be drawn from the treasury, but
in consequence of appropriations made bylaw; and a
regular statement and account of the receipts and expen-
ditures of all public money shall be published from time
to time.

7. Congress shall appropriate no money from the trea-
surj', unless it be asked for by the President or some one
of the heads of Departments, except for the purpose of
paying its own expenses and contingencies.

8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the Con-
federacy ; and no person holding any office of profit or
trust under it, shall, without the consent of the Congress,
accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any
kind, whatever, from an}- king, prince, or foreign State.

9. Congress shall make no law respecting an establish-
ment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof:
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the government for a redress of such grievances as the
delegated powers of this Government may warrant it to
consider and redress.

10. A well regulated militia being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep
and bear arms shall not be infringed.

11. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in

any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time
of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

12. The right of the people to be secure in their per-
sonsj houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no war-
rants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

13. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infiiraous crime, unless on a presentment or
indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the
land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual ser-
vice in time of war or public danger; nor shall any per-
son be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeo-
pardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled, in any
criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be de-
prived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.

14. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall en-
joy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial
jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed, which district shall have been pre-
viously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with
the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process
for obtaining witnesses in his ftivor; and to have the as-
sistance of counsel for his defence.

15. In suits at common law, where the value in con-
troversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by
jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall
be otherwise re-examined in any court of the Confedera-
cy, than according to the rules of the common law.

16. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
lines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in-
flicted. ^

17. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain

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riglits, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained b}- the people.

18. The powers not delegated to the Confederacy by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

19. The judicial power of the Confederacy shall not
be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, com-
menced or prosecuted against one ot the States ot the
Confederac}^ by citizens of another State, or by citizens
or subjects of any foreign State.

SECTION 8.

1. ITo State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin
money; emit bills of credit ; make any thing but gold
and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any
bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the
obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

2. '^o State shall, without the consent of the Congress,
lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except
what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspec-
tion laws ; and the nett produce of all duties and imposts,
laid hy any State on imports or exports, shall be for the
use of the treasury of the Confederac}-, and all such laws
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Con-
gress. No State, shall, without the consent of Congress,
lay any duty of tonnage, enter into any agreement or
compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or
engage in war, unless actuall}^ invaded, or in such immi-
nent danger as will not admit of delay.

ARTICLE II.

SECTION 1,

1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of
the Confederate States of America. He, together with
the Vice President, shall hold his office for one year, or
until this Provisional Government shall be superseded by
a Permanent Government, whichsoever shall first occur.

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2. The President and Vice President shall be elected
by ballot b}^ the States represented in this Congress, eaeli
State casting one vote, and a majority' of the whole being
requisite to elect.

3. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen
of one of the States of this Confederacy at the time of
the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the
office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to
that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-
five yeavA and been fourteen 3'ears a resident of one of
the States of this Confederac}-.

4. In case of the removal of the President from office,
or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of the said office, (which inability siiall
be determined by a vote of two-thirds of the Congress,)
the same shall devolve on the Vice President; and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal,
death, resignation, or inabilit}^, both of the President and
Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as
President; and such officer shall act accordingly, until
the disability be removed or a President shall be elected.

5. The President shall at stated times receive for bis
services, during the period of the Provisional Govern-
ment, a compensation at the rate of twenty-five thousand
dollars per annum; and he shall not receive during that
period any other emolument from this Confederacy, or
any of the States thereof.

6. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he
shall take the following oath or affirmation :

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the Confederate States
of America, and w^ill, to the best of my ability, preserve,
protect, and defend the Constitution thereof.

SECTION 2.

1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the Confederacy, and of the Militia of
the several States, when called into the actual service of

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the Confederacy; he may require the opinion, in writing,
of the principal officer in each of the Executive Depart-
ments, upon any subject rchxting to the duties of their
respective offices ; and he shall have power to grant re-
prieves and pardons for offences against the Confederacy,
except in cases of impeachment.

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and
consent of the Congress, to make treaties ; provided two-
thirds of the Congress concur: and he shall nominate,
and by and wnth the advice and consent of the Congress
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, judges of the court, and all other officers of the
Confederacy whose appointments are not herein other-
wise provided for, and which shall be established by law.
But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of
such inferior officers as they think proper in the Presi-
dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of de-
partments.

3, The President shall have power to fillup all vacan-
cies that may happen during the recess of the Congress,
by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of
their next session.

SECTION 3.
1. He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress
information of the state of the Confederacy, and recom-
mend to their consideration such measures as he shall
judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary
occasions, convene the Congress at such time as he shall
think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other
public ministers; he shall take care that the laws bo
faithfully executed; and shall commission all the officers
of the Confederacy.

2. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers
of the Confederacy shall be removed from office on con-
viction by the Congress of treason, bribery, or other high
crimes and misdemeanors : a vole of two-thirds shall be
necessary for such conviction.

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»

AKTICLE III.

SECTION 1.

1. The judicial power of the Confederacy shall be
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts
as are herein directed or as the Congress may from time
to time ordain and establish.

2. Each State shall constitute a District in which there
shall be a court called a District Court, which, until other-
wise provided b}' the Congress, shall have the jurisdiction
vested l\y the laws of the United States, as far as applica-
ble, in both the District and Circuit Courts of the United
States, for that State ; the Judge whereof shall be ap-
pointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Congress, and shall, until otherwise pro-
vided by the Congress, exercise the power and authority
vested by the laws of the United States in the Judges of
the District and Circuit Courts of the United States, for
that State, and shall appoint the times and places at
which the courts shall be held. Appeals may be taken
directl}' from the District Courts to the Supreme Court,
under similar regulations to those which are provided in
cases of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
States, or under such other regulations as may be pro-
vided by the Congress. The commissions of all the
judges shall expire with this Provisional Government.

3. The Supreme Court shall be constituted of all the
District Judges, a majority of whom shall be a quorum,
and shall sit at such times and places as the Congress
shall appoint.

4. The Congress shall have power to make laws for the
transfer of any causes which were pending in the courts
of the United|States, to the courts of the Confederacy, and
for the execution of the orders, decrees, and judgments
heretofore rendered by the said courts of the United
States; and also all laws which may be requisite to i')ro-
tect the parties to all such suits, orders, judgments, or
decrees, their heirs, personal representatives, or assignees.

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SECTION 2.

The judicial power sliall extend to all cases of law and
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the
United States, and of this Confederacy, and treaties made,
or which shall be made, under its authority; to all cases
affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con-
suls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ;
to controversies to which the Confederacy shall be a par-
ty; controversies between two or more States ; between
citizens of different States; between citizens of the
same State claiming lands under grants of different
States.

2. Ln all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be
a party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme
court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and
fact, Avith such exceptions and under such regulations as
the Congress shall make.

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeach-
ment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall beheld in the
State where the said crimes shall have been committed ;
but when not committed within any State, the trial shall
be at such place or places as the Congress may by law
have directed.

SECTION 3,

1. Treason against this Confederacy shall consist only
in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies,
giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be con-
victed of treason unless on the testimony of two witnes-
ses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the pun-
ishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall
work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the
life of the person attainted.

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ARTICLE IV.

SECTION 1.

1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of
every other State. And the Congress may, by general
laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records,
and proceedings shall be proved and the effect of sucli
proof.

SECTION 2.

1. The citizens of each Stsite shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony,
or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found
in another State, shall, on demand of the executive au-
thority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up,
to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the
crime.

8. A slave in one State, escaping to another, shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom said slave
may belong by the executive authority of the State in
which such slave shall be found, and in case of any
abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation, including
the value of the slave and all costs and expenses, shall
be made to the party, by the State in which such abduc-
tion or rescue shall take place.

SECTION 3.

1. The Confederacy shall guaranty to every State in
this union, a republican form of government, and shall
protect each of them against invasion ; and, on applica-
tion of the legislature, or of the executive, (when the
legislature cannot be convened,) against domestic vio-
lence.

ARTICLE V.

1. The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds, may, at any
time, alter or amend this Constitution.

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ARTICLE VL

1. This Constitution, and tlie laws of the Confederacy
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties
made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the
Confederacy, shall be the supreme law of the land; and
the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any
thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding.

2. The Government hereby instituted shall take imme-
diate steps lor the settlement of all matters between the
States forming it, and their other late confederates of the
United States in relation to the public property and
public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them;
these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and
earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the com-
mon property, common liability, and common obligations
of that union, upon the principles of right, justice, equity,
and good faith.

8. Until otherwise provided by the Congress, the city
of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, shall be the
seat of Government.

4. The members of the Congress and all executive
and judicial officers of the Confederacy shall be bound
by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but
no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under this Confederacy.

5. The Congress shall have power to admit other
States.